Born in Chicago on April 5^th, 1955, Joe Cantafio and his family moved to Oak Park, Illinois on Chicago’s Westside when he was only six-months old. Joe was the sixth of eleven children born to Joe and Amelia Cantafio, first generation Italian Americans.

Joe attended St. Catherine of Siena Grammar School in Oak Park and at the age of 12, the schools music teacher, Sister Mary Rose, gave the class an option; learn how to play the guitar for future Guitar Masses on Friday mornings or stay in religion class. Joe’s hand immediately shot up in the air for two reasons;  One, he was “in love” with an upper classman named Mary Ann.  She was “in love” with Beatle, Paul McCartney; this would be Joe’s chance to win the heart of Mary Ann away from the mop-top; Two, Sister Mary Magdalena was the Friday morning religion teacher, … enough said.

After pleading with his Mom and Dad for a week, and promising to practice everyday, Joe’s parents bought him a ten-dollar folk guitar from Sears and Joe was on his way.  To say that he kept his promise and practiced every day was an understatement.  Joe would drive his poor brothers and sisters crazy while he learned his chords and strained his voice, playing and singing songs like “Tom Dooley” and “Red River Valley.”  He rarely put the guitar down when he was at home, even carrying it into the bathroom with him … enough said there too.

One day while practicing, “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love,” a song he had learned at school, he discovered that if you switch the order of the chords, and add one or two extra chords, drawing-out the chords while picking each note, he could play “House of the Rising Sun” by Eric Burdon and the Animals.  That became the song Joe was known by for years in Oak Park, because that’s all he played and sang, over and over and over again.

When Joe reached High School, his life long friend Herb Weinand turned Joe on to The Beatles.  As Joe saw it, because of the rivalry between McCartney and Joe for the heart of the fair Mary Ann a few years earlier, Joe wanted nothing to do with Beatle music.  Now that Joe chose the guitar over Mary Ann, the Fab-Four were cool; unfortunately The Beatles had just broken up.

In order to catch up on all the great music he had missed, together, Herb and Joe would listen to, and analyze every cut of every Beatle album after school and on weekends.  Joe would play along with the records on his guitar while he and Herb would sing. The Beatles remain a huge musical influence on his life.

At the age of sixteen, Joe decided it was time to put a band together.  He got a job as a cab driver and soon bought an electric guitar and amp.  He recruited Herb and other classmates, and in 1971, they formed an all-Beatles tribute band called “Devine Thyme.” Their first concert was held at Joe’s old grammar school and it was a smashing success.

The group performed at a few church functions and block parties.  Soon, the group decided that they needed a shorter name and they also had to add some tunes from other top groups. They changed their name to “Jade” and became a “Top 40’s” group.

Herb dropped out of the group and formed his own band, but remained very close with Joe. To this day they are like brothers and write songs together.